Resources: People & skills

The engineering skills base found in Glasgow is unparalleled elsewhere, with an array of existing professional skills and experience, and a well-educated population, served by extensive college and university programmes which create a pipeline of engineers and designers.

The University of Strathclyde is one of UK’s largest engineering schools and the largest in Scotland. Almost 50% of Scotland’s engineering students (undergrad and postgrad) in electronics, mechanics and software study in Glasgow. There are nearly 8,000 engineering and technology students in Glasgow, and about one-quarter of these graduate each year . There are over 3,000 students studying engineering in the city’s further education colleges.

In addition to a well-respected engineering department at the University of Strathclyde, the University has also instituted an Academy of Engineering, which is a partnership endeavour between the university, industrial partners and 11 West and Central Scotland colleges, which offers a non-traditional pathway to an engineering degree through the Academy.

Around 17,000 jobs in Glasgow were attributable to manufacturing (Business Register and Employment Survey, 2016). The GVA per employee in Glasgow was £62,108 in 2014. Labour costs per employee were £34,408 (Scottish Annual Business Statistics, 2016) – lower than that of Aberdeen at £50,641 per employee.

The University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) has opened a state-of-the-art digital visualisation suite at its premises in Inchinnan next to Glasgow Airport. The suite, designed and...Read More